ABSTRACT
It is significant that the introduction to the Common Core State Standards specifically mentions the need for students to read and write with digital texts and "use technology and digital media strategically and capably". Using a framework of critical media literacy, educators can guide students to question and create their own media messages about environmental justice and sustainability. Critical media literacy is defined less as a specific body of knowledge or set of skills, and more as a framework of conceptual understandings. English language arts teachers can also employ documentaries, videos, and Climate Change (Cli-Fi) films to portray different aspects of climate change. There is also wide variation across media outlets in the degree of media coverage of climate change. Language arts students can do their own investigations about current media coverage. For years, environmental problems in the United States have been represented in mainstream media as issues of universal vulnerability, as if everyone were affected equally by environmental dangers.
